


A Thought-Provoking Title

by John_Q_Sample



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-05-15 03:44:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19287430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Q_Sample/pseuds/John_Q_Sample
Summary: Morgana Macawber, an actress, is dealing with the death of her friend and ex-husband, Jim Starling. Then one night she finds...her friend and ex-husband, Jim Starling. Something doesn't add up here.





	A Thought-Provoking Title

**Author's Note:**

> i've never been able to choose between drakepad or morgwing

Morgana wakes to the sound of movement downstairs. She figures it must be her close friend Jim Starling, who regularly turns up at her house without invitation, and lies back down.

Then she bolts upright, eyes wide.

Jim's funeral was just this morning.

Checking her clock, she finds that it's around midnight. She sighs irritatedly and reaches for her prosthetic feet. After putting them on, she grabs a robe and then the sword that most people mistake for decoration. Walking out into the hallway, she slides her suspicious gaze back and forth before heading down to the staircase.

The lights are on downstairs; the ones in the foyer and then the living room. Then she sees the lights in the kitchen turn on.

A thief marking their path like that is just stupid; Morgana makes her way as silently as possible down the staircase.

Once she reaches the kitchen, she finds that it's now empty with a single apple moved directly next to the bowl it was supposed to be in. She turns and finds a caped figure heading towards her personal office, which is currently being overtaken by Jim Starling's things.

An overzealous fan looking for free merch, no doubt.

"Oh, no you don't!" she cries, rushing forward and swinging her sword.

The caped figure throws himself onto the ground and rolls. He looks up at Morgana with crazed eyes that seem to soften when he sees her.

His outfit is too similar to Darkwing Duck, and for a second Morgana wonders if she's in some sort of nightmare. She turns her sword towards him as her face twists with anger.

"Who are you?!" she demands.

He takes off his hat and throws it aside. "Have you _already_ forgotten me?" he asks, tugging his mask off.

Morgana's hand wavers, causing her to nearly drop her weapon as she gasps out, " _Jim_?!"

"Who else?"

"But you died in an explosion!"

"Oh, is that what they're saying?"

"There was a whole investigation," Morgana sputters. "I was at your  _funeral_ today."

Jim grabs his effects and stands. "Darkwing Duck doesn't just die. You should know this by now."

Concern flickers through her eyes. Even now he still hinges his ego upon being Darkwing Duck.

"What do you want?" Morgana asks, speaking in a harsher tone than she would usually inflict upon a friend like Jim.

Jim grimaces, trying to force his beak into a smile. "I got tired of the sewers and tried to go to my house, but it was empty. Then I came here and found all my stuff."

"You said you didn't want your parents handling your estate."

"I guess I did."

Frowning, Morgana says, "Sewers, huh? That explains the funny smell. What were you doing there?"

"That's where I went after the explosion. It was the quickest way out without having to deal with that...that  _fake_ Darkwing." His once calm expression turns hideously angry.

Morgana hesitates. Cautiously, she asks, "You mean Drake Mallard, the actor cast as Darkwing in the movie?"

"Yes, him," Jim hisses.

"The movie got cancelled."

" _Good_." Jim laughs, and it sounds exactly like the villainous cackles he was practicing for the show.

Morgana winces and shifts her gaze away from him. "Well, if you're going to be here, you could at least shower and maybe take off that...get-up."

"I'm not staying here."

"Then where are you going after this?"

Jim doesn't have an answer. He just goes upstairs.

He used to live here, back in the few years when they were married, so she doesn't have to worry about him finding his way. She glides towards the office to get a look at it. (She gets  _so_ tired of walking rather than floating everywhere, like she used to do in Transylvania.)

The office is absolutely packed with all of the things Jim used to keep in his house, and about half of it is just Darkwing Duck merchandise. Morgana was in the process of getting rid of a lot of things she knew wouldn't be needed, like toiletries and whatnot, and she's not sure how he'd react.

He doesn't seem like he's in a good mental place, that's for sure. She's not even sure he recognizes the fact that everyone thought he was dead. What's he going to do now?

Morgana glides forward and takes one of his sweaters, the first one on the stack. Then she leaves and makes her way through the house, turning off all the lights that Jim had turned on during his uninvited entrance.

Finally, she heads upstairs. She pauses in front of the closed bathroom door and hears the sound of the shower spraying water. Satisfied, she heads back to her room.

She places the sweater at the foot of the bed and returns her sword to its place on the wall.

Sitting down on the bed, she takes off her prosthetics and leaves them in the usual spot. She briefly considers changing into actual clothes, but she decides against it, figuring that this isn't the first time Jim has dropped by in the middle of the night. Besides, they were married for years, some decades ago. He's used to it.

Getting up, Morgana glides towards the terrarium in the corner of the room. She gently taps the glass, and her spider Archie gets up. She puts her hand in the terrarium, and she climbs into her hand.

"While you were sleeping, I was warding off an intruder," Morgana says.

The surprisingly expressive Transylvanian arachnid gives her a look of shock, and she can feel the familiar's concern.

"Don't worry," Morgana continues, returning to the bed with Archie cupped in her hands. "It turned out to be Jim."

More shock than before.

"I know! Just this morning you were helping me prep for the funeral. I don't know how, but he made it out of the explosion...Don't look at me like that! This is a good thing, Archie. Weird, but good. Though honestly..."

Here she leans in and whispers, "I'm not sure he's in a good mental state right now. I think we should keep him here and help him."

Archie responds with the most sarcastic look she has ever seen from a spider.

"Archie, seriously! He's my best friend. Of course I'm going to help him."

"You still have that spider," Jim says, walking into the room.

Morgana looks up. He's wearing the turtleneck from his outfit, and a towel is draped over his shoulders. He's carrying the rest of his outfit.

"That was fast," Morgana says.

Jim tosses his stuff down on the bed.

"You should change," Morgana adds, nodding towards the sweater she put out on the bed.

With a huff, Jim tugs off his turtleneck and reaches for the sweater. He narrows his eyes at it, finding the teal colors he always used to wear suddenly displeasing, and then puts it back on again.

"Are tarantulas supposed to live as long as that one is?"

"He's from Transylvania," Morgana explains, getting up to put Archie back. Archie and Jim never really got along, though it's mostly one-sided as Jim doesn't understand the spider.

Pausing at the terrarium, and still turned away from him, Morgana asks, "Are you going to tell anyone else that you're still alive?"

"No way."

"There were a lot of people at the funeral who were heartbroken that you were gone. Your father looked like he may have been considering crying."

Jim sneers. "Making a scene for the media, probably."

"My point is, you should at least consider it, don't you think?"

"It's not like anyone actually  _liked_ me when I was alive. Besides, what happens when that other Darkwing finds me?"

"Drake Mallard was there, too. He looked like he was genuinely depressed." Morgana moves to sit down next to him. "You always underestimate how much people really like you. Even if your fanbase isn't as large as some billionaire, they're all very dedicated."

Jim reaches for her hand. "And you still care about me, don't you?"

"Of course I do."

He squeezes, gently and contrasting his harsh tone. "Then you won't tell anyone."

Morgana hesitates. "But..."

"Just trust me, Morg. You. Can't. Tell. Anyone."

Morgana winces. She knows that he's competent, or at least he was the last time she saw him. He can be irrational at times, but whatever this is, it feels entirely different than from before.

"I won't," Morgana says. "Just...promise me one thing, in return. Don't go and get yourself killed, for real."

"I can manage that."

Jim gets up, then pauses and looks around awkwardly.

"I don't have a house anymore," he says, suddenly facing the reality of this fact.

"I've always told you that you have a home here. Besides, all your things are here, anyway."

So Jim returns to the bed.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> morgana hides the fact that she's a witch from the public for magica de spell related reasons but jim knows cos, like, they lived together.


End file.
